Any geeks have a HD Tuner card for their PC + COX?

[Mike 01Hawk]

I'm wanting to watch HD and SD TV on my PC.

Was thinking an internal card.  People that have gone down this path, what equipment did you use?

Also, what can I expect in the way of channels both SD and HD? I'm assuming I can get what, up to like channel 74 if I run a cable splitter from my Cox cable modem to the TV Card, and then some over the air HD channels.

Does Cox send any HD channels down thru the cable unencrypeted, I think it's called QAM.

Any help will be appreciated.

[sgrizzle]

Yes, a Cox does send unencrypted HD channels that you can see with a QAM tuner. ATSC tuner gets you HD over broadcast antenna. I think you get about a dozen channels without a box with Cox.

I would suggest the Hauppauge  WinTV-HVR-1800 (PCI Express) or WinTV-HVR-1600 (PCI)  which are dual tuner cards and one of the tuners is a ATSC&QAM tuner.

[RecycleMichael]

Kim Komando has some tips...

http://www.komando.com/buyguide/index.aspx?id=3186

[Mike 01Hawk]

Well I decided on the VistaView Saber DA-1N1-I
http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/pName/vistaview-saber-da1n1i-combo-analogdigital-pci-tv-tuner-card-retail

Seems to be on par/slightly better than the HVR-1600/1800.  $90 after $15 rebate.

Going over to http://www.antennaweb.org it shows I should get most channels with a small multi-directional antenna.  

I guess it's just gonna be hit or miss w/ the antenna selection, I can already see I'll be trying/returning a lot.  Who knows.

Can't wait to start 'geekin out'

[inteller]

quote:Originally posted by Mike 01Hawk

Well I decided on the VistaView Saber DA-1N1-I
http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/pName/vistaview-saber-da1n1i-combo-analogdigital-pci-tv-tuner-card-retail

Seems to be on par/slightly better than the HVR-1600/1800.  $90 after $15 rebate.

Going over to http://www.antennaweb.org it shows I should get most channels with a small multi-directional antenna.  

I guess it's just gonna be hit or miss w/ the antenna selection, I can already see I'll be trying/returning a lot.  Who knows.

Can't wait to start 'geekin out'

 A better option is just to get big honkin hard drives and use FireSTB to record content off of the Motorola box.

pretty soon Cox will offer the TiVo interface and I'm sure it'll have TiVo to go as an option to transfer the content around the house.

If Cocks would just offer eSATA support so I could hang a big drive off the moto box I'd be happy.  I fill mine up with WAY too much HD content.

[Mike 01Hawk]

inteller, that's not my intent.

My intent is to:

1) Watch live TV on my PC
2) Potentially REDUCE the number of set top boxes, not INCREASE them

Down the road I'll look into the whole content backup, and also sending a signal wirelessly to my laptop that I'll have hooked up to my projector.  Heck.. I might even be able to save a crap load on my Cox Bill by returning my HD-DVR and cutting way back on the extended/HD content.  Hmm.. I need to look into my potential savings.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by Mike 01Hawk

inteller, that's not my intent.

My intent is to:

1) Watch live TV on my PC
2) Potentially REDUCE the number of set top boxes, not INCREASE them

Down the road I'll look into the whole content backup, and also sending a signal wirelessly to my laptop that I'll have hooked up to my projector.  Heck.. I might even be able to save a crap load on my Cox Bill by returning my HD-DVR and cutting way back on the extended/HD content.  Hmm.. I need to look into my potential savings.

I understand what Mike's talking about.

My attempt at the Tuner card world is going mediocre. My PC has proved somewhat underpowered for it and the scheduler software is a bit flaky. Plus I have to buy an add-on to reencode for mobile devices. On the upside, I can now keep up with the Colbert Report much easier..

[jne]

So the firewire does work with the motorola box? I've heard it rumored that that it is the only active port on the box.  If I hook up a drive, will it automatically see it as storage?  How would I send saved programs over to it?  

The only reason I finally got the damn cox box was because I heard  they had struck a deal with Tivo.  The interface sux royally.  I'm ready for a new box with WiFi and a Tivo interface - just not ready for what it would cost to have it now!

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by jne

So the firewire does work with the motorola box? I've heard it rumored that that it is the only active port on the box.  If I hook up a drive, will it automatically see it as storage?  How would I send saved programs over to it?  

The only reason I finally got the damn cox box was because I heard  they had struck a deal with Tivo.  The interface sux royally.  I'm ready for a new box with WiFi and a Tivo interface - just not ready for what it would cost to have it now!

Likely cox will get a tivo load on the cox box. I think tivo-2-go probably won't show up.

You hook your pc up to the firewire and it works like an external capture card. Just plugging a drive in gets you nothing.